What was your first job as a journalist?
Covering the pan-India protests following the RG Kar rape-murder case in Kolkata as a photojournalist.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
I have. As I am a pianist and a writer, it was distinctly memorable.
How is social media changing news?
It is revolutionising it completely; it has made news breaking obsolete, and blurred the lines between opinion and fact more than before.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Vinod and Sudhir from Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (1983)
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Performing honesty.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
I enjoy all Modi related tags to the degree that they become part of my spoken vernacular
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Emails/Phone Calls
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
LibreOffice (text editing), Inkscape (illustration and graphics work), Kdenlive (video editing), Darktable/GIMP/PhotoPea (photo editing)
What's your favorite social network?
I must say Instagram, as I loathe it least, but I'm unsure that favourite is a sincere descriptor.
Who do you wish followed you?
Tanushree Pandey
Why did you become a journalist?
Not enough typeface to unpack all that. Let's say it seemed like work worth doing.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
No, there wasn't one in my school, but I do have an anecdote related to that that won't fit in here
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
A yet unpublished detailed investigation of an acid attack in rural Haryana.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Break, don't bend.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Any and all times of day and night are fine; the story matters most.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
The series for The Polis Project on the ModifiedElephant APT used to construct the so called 'Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy' by the state.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Any play invitation. I just hate covering plays.
What's your favorite drink?
Tamarind Whiskey Sour
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
In the field.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Fourteen Magazine, PinkDisco, Agents of Ishq, The Queer Gaze, Question of Cities, etc
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That it is dangerous. A journalist in India is in fact less vulnerable to state violence and crime than the average Indian.
